Having problems finding a decent tool/software for Google/Adwords PPC Management, the only ones I found was Adapt Sem / Aqusio, but it seems that they are not suitable for me... any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
[google.com...]
that being said
i tried 1 software product that used the adwords api
(i think it was called ppc bidmax)
it had some unique and/or usefull features
i would get it only if i was using microsoft or yahoo
but for adwords i found it less user friendly
The problem I have with 3rd party management tools is that they can not fully replace human management and often create more work if not implemented properly.
What exactly are you looking for in the 3rd party management tool?
[webmasterworld.com...]
However, it may not offer bid automation, if that is what you are looking for, just tracking and ROI calculation.
The problem I have with 3rd party management tools is that they can not fully replace human management and often create more work if not implemented properly.
IMO it's more appropriate given the understaffed nature of most of the world's SEM spend to say "The problem I have with SEM managers is that they cannot fully replace automated management and often get worse ROI if not trained properly."
I say that only half in jest. WebmasterWorld's 5 years into the people speaking on behalf of the people, but obviously the tools never get a chance to say a thing. Things I've seen recently:
1) A 2-person inhouse SEM team deciding not to invest in SEM tools because one of them would've had to be let go, or worse yet, refocus his efforts on A/B testing. This despite 150,000 keywords and a volatile bid landscape.
2) A panel at an SEM show filled with SEM consultants, not a one of which was willing to acknowledge that SEM tools are anything other than a commodity. Many of the same panelists are turning down more work than they take because there's far more demand for SEM consultants than there is supply. Doesn't that mean tools that bring efficiency, scale and ROI if used properly are anything but a commodity?
3) An insurance company spending $1M+/mo on search and who's yet to implement tracking, let alone bid management, match type reporting or campaign restructuring. When asked if they thought it was time to instrument their campaigns, they said it's not a priority. Huh?
IMO online marketers who aren't using keyword management tools or multivariate testing solutions are grossly negligent and should be F-I-R-E-D. These are serious times and someone up the management ladder's got to realize marketing is now math, math requires calculators and computers, and in the SEM world that means keyword mgmt and A/B testing technology.
IMO online marketers who aren't using keyword management tools or multivariate testing solutions are grossly negligent and should be F-I-R-E-D. These are serious times and someone up the management ladder's got to realize marketing is now math, math requires calculators and computers, and in the SEM world that means keyword mgmt and A/B testing technology.
Shorebreak, I completely agree with you that we search marketers desperately need more advanced tools to take campaign management to a whole new level and in some cases just to make sure that we stay on top of everything. My statement reflects the original question in this post, which 3rd party management tools live up to those tasks and don't just create more problems and time-wastage?
No doubt that savvy search marketers realize tools should not be seen as a replacement to human experts, but rather complement their skills to drive better results much more quickly. I'm sure we'll start to see these tools come to market much more quickly now that there is a demand for it. There are several useful tools out there already to help with various individual tasks related to the creation and management of PPC campaigns, but is there one that is more complete?
What would be your short list of tools being that you claim anyone not using them should be fired?
First off, I should disclose that I work in the SEM space, at Omniture where I run the SearchCenter business, and prior to that I was at Efficient Frontier. I do get asked the question often both by potential clients of mine, industry acquaintances, VC firms and analysts, and try to be as impartial as I can be.
I'd say the following would make my short list, in no particular order:
Efficient Frontier - arguably the best optimization math in the industry, great ROI modeling capabilities and 6+ years servicing $50K-$1M+/mo ROI-focused advertisers, plus a global footprint (U.S., Asia, Europe).
Marin Software - their 100% focused on the tools aspect of SEM and have flexible pricing/contract terms which make it easy to put them to the test. I wonder if non-committal trials are good for either advertiser or vendor, but that's a topic for another day.
DART Search (owned by Google) - their system's touching more spend than anyone else (they sell primarily through agencies) and has been around 4+ years. Spotlight tags promise de-duped mgmt capabilities, and they claim high data fidelity.
Kenshoo - recently-funded Israeli startup that claims to have built the best new SEM system available. Find out for yourself, but Sequoia is the VC firm backing them, and Kenshoo's CEO is a winner.
Omniture SearchCenter (where I work) - Omniture's the 800-pound gorilla in the web analytics space (Google Analytics reigns at the low end), and we're on v3.1 of SearchCenter. Tight integration with our SaaS web analytics package - SiteCatalyst - flexible portfolio and rules-based management, and unified multi-SE management are the highlights. Our platform strategy is to couple analytics, testing & targeting and SEM campaign management tools with launch-related, training, transitional, and ongoing SEM services.
-Shorebreak
[edited by: engine at 7:15 am (utc) on Oct. 18, 2008]
Of the above mentioned, the only I have experience with is Omniture. The package is great, but far too expensive for smaller businesses. Depending on the size of your busienss, some of the tools offered may be a bit over the top as well. If you have no experience with Omniture, training and guide materials come at additional charges. If you've got the cash, it's well worth it though.
One other downside, for me anyways, is that I like to use tools like Adwords Editor for bulk changes and it is recommended to make all changes within the Omniture interface because of the way data is pulled and formatted from the search engines. Having to sync the accounts whenever changes are made outside of Omniture only leaves room for problems.
shorebreak, you do seem to bring some good knowledge to the table. What would you recommend for a smaller company?....let's say less than 50k/month in spend?
As MadeWillis mentioned, many of these tools do increase performance and ROI but are not an option for smaller advertisers so it would be great to see if there are solutions that are scalable for agencies to aggregate their clients' collective spend to benefit from the added efficiencies of such tools.
Some of the other tools I've seen demos of include Acquisio and Clickable. While both offer interesting features, they don't seem to be as advanced as professional search marketers need them to be. Granted they are making improvements constantly and have come a long way from when they first started so I don't want to completely discount them.
Any thoughts on these given that their pricing seems to be more accessible - especially Clickable?
One other downside, for me anyways, is that I like to use tools like Adwords Editor for bulk changes and it is recommended to make all changes within the Omniture interface because of the way data is pulled and formatted from the search engines. Having to sync the accounts whenever changes are made outside of Omniture only leaves room for problems.
MadeWillis,
I wouldn't say we recommend making all changes in the SearchCenter interface. As you probably know, we have an Excel plug-in that allows you to make bulk changes in Excel and then sync those changes into both SearchCenter and the search engines. The excel plug-in allows you to download either a) the account for editing in SearchCenter (Google, Yahoo or MSN); or b) a data block about anything within SearchCenter or SiteCatalyst. That allows advertisers to download a data block, look at the data in excel, run macros, which in turn update the corresponding fields within the account download... which we in turn can post changes into SearchCenter on. It's really powerful and has been there since day one.
True, you can use this Excel plugin with AdW Editor, but what it really does is turn Excel into AdW Editor but for all the major SE's - not just Google.
What would you recommend for a smaller company?....let's say less than 50k/month in spend?
As xurxo mentions, Acquisio and Clickable are two options for <$50K/mo in spend, but he's also right to say that their feature set is not that advanced, mainly because they've built for a lower common denominator use case. As an alternative, I do know that Omniture SearchCenter, DART Search, Marin and Kenshoo will all be willing to handle <$50K/mo campaigns, keeping in mind that their fee structure is probably going to be 5-10% of spend when all is said and done. If you go with one of those firms, just make sure you know what post-sales support will/won't be getting given your spend level, and IMO you shouldn't shy away from buying some implementation/training consulting to make sure things go well.
To address the question that both MadeWillis and xurxo bring up on cost vs benefit for smaller (<$50K/mo) advertisers, I personally feel that 5-10% of spend is a reasonable fee to pay for a tool given that the tools, if used properly, allow for much more efficient management of campaigns, more success in fine tuning bidding, dayparting, geotargeting, match types and mgmt to detailed business metrics.
@Shorebreak I would definitely like to find out more about how the various solutions you mentioned perform and increase ROI.
Unfortunately, my friend, there is no 3rd party that independently verifies ROI/lift from tools use, so you ultimately have to make a value judgement based on what you see of the tool, what others tell you about their use of it, and in what areas you know your campaigns could benefit. As a benchmark, though, in the 5 years I've been selling SEM tools, I've seen 15-80% increases in efficiencies and/or ROI more often than I've seen <15%.
It's been mentioned several times on this thread that the tools mentioned are too expensive. Given that they're typically ~5-8% of spend, I don't know that I agree with the 'too expensive' label. Manually managing 1000's of keywords across multiple engines by hand costs a lot of money too, only in the form of lost opportunities for a)cutting non-performing spend; b)managing more of your spend in less time; and c)spending time on more value-added SEM tasks like ad copy creating, landing page testing etc. I'd argue that's a 'cost' people are being too risk averse.
Any thoughts on these given that their pricing seems to be more accessible - especially Clickable?
I unfortunately don't have first-hand experience with either Clickable or Acquisio, so can't help out much, other than to say I've met & liked Clikable's CEO - David Kidder - and do think there's a big market for their approach.
Any of these services that I can run on my own servers?
I work for another SEM tool provider and can assure you that we don't steal our agency user's clients or share data among clients. Any serious SEM tool provider state this in their contracts.
How long do you think a SEM management tool would be in business if rumors about them stealing clients or data would spread?
[edited by: tedster at 11:48 pm (utc) on Oct. 16, 2008]
